NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY EVANSTON ILLINOIS HENRIK IBSEN II. Brand and Peer Gynt—A Contrast. A SUNDAY LECTURE BY THE RABBI OP THE Rodef Shalom Congregation PITTSBURGH, FA. SERIES 14. JANUARY 10, 1915 No. 11 These Soadajr Lectures are distributed Free of Charge in the Temple to all who attend the Services. Another edition is distributed free in Pittsburgh to friends of liberal religions thought, on written application to the BabbL An extra edition is printed for those wishing to have these lectures mailed to friends residing out of the City. • Apply to B. OALLOMON, The Temple, Fifth and Morewood Aves., Pittsburgh, Fa. Sunday liMtuiM Btfon Bod«r amnwi oomsngaflOB. SERIES XIII 1. The Naumburg Centennial. 2. The Jewish Tote. 3. Cause and Effect. 4. What Reform Jews Believe. 5. What Reform Jews Po Not Believe. 6. The Weak Spot in Our Moral Situation. (Rev. Leo M. Franklin). 7. The Inside of the Cup. (Dr. Leon Harrison). 9. 10. 11. 12. A "Greek Myth and a 13. Hebrew Tale. (Rev. Jos. Ranch). 14. The Things Which Bemaln. ' Where There's a Will 15. There's a Way. Race Improvement. Some Shakespearean Trag- 16. I. Hamlet,—The Tragedy of Indecision. 21. II. Macbeth,—The Tragedy of Guilty Ambition, m. Othello.-'The Tragedy of Jealousy. IT. King Lear,—The Trag- edy of Parents and Children. T. Romeo and Jollet,— The Tragedy of Petty Quarrels. Business Is Business. 1. When Dreams Come True. 2. Under the Tine and the Fig Tree. 3. I—The War Against War. 4. II—The War Aga nst War. 5. The B'nai B'rith's Opportu- nity. 6. Ill—The War Asainst War. 7. Women and the SufTrasfe* 8. I^et There Be Ivisrht. 9. If The Messiah Had Come 10. Henrik Ibsen. I. The Man and His Message . II. Brand and Peer Gynt— A Contrast. SERIE^ XIV HENRIK IBSEN II. Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast.* AN ADDRESS IN THE RODEF SHALOM TEMPLE PITTSBURGH, SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 1916. Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy xxx. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. (Deuteronomy xxx., 19). Observation shows that two differing views of man are held by different persons. According to some he is a child of the dust; according to others he is a child of Deity. He is an ape or an angel, a product of things earthly or heavenly, in proportion to our materialistic or idealistic manner of thought. Differing Views of Man and His End. In the same way there are two views of the grave. It is either a blind alley, a hole in the ground into which we place dust to dust, earth to earth, ashes to ashes; or it is an entrance to a conservatory into which we commit the bulb which flourishes as a flower in realms beyond our vision or imagination. Similarly we may conceive of •By the EeiB J. Leonard Levy, Babbi of the Congregation. Stenographieally reported by Caroline Loewenthal. 27 Henrik Ibsen death, for two views are commonly held concerning it. Either it is the end of all living, or it is the beginning of a new life. The Higher View Accords With Lofty Souls. If a beast could speak and we were to ask it for its views concerning man, the grave, and death, it would un- hesitatingly give the lower view. Were we to consult an mieducated, unspiritual, uncontrolled individual called, on account of his shape, a man, we would, probably, hear from him opinions which would be in harmony with the views of the beast; for, denying the spiritual origin of man, he is compelled, by the logic of the case, to regard man as the highest beast, although he demands for him- self the attention due to an angel. Were we to ask the cultured yet unreligious person his opinions on the sub- ject of man, the grave, and death, he would probably reply, "X have reverently investigated, I have pondered and I find that I know little and am compelled to accept much on the authority, of the teachers of men. Of the hereafter I know nothing; of the here and now I believe that some such statement as Micah's rule of life is suf- ficient; of man's origin I find no record other than that he is an animal with noble endowments which hind him to the obligation of moral endeavor. The Beligious View. If we were to request one of the highest types of manhood to tell us frankly what views he holds of man, of the grave, and of death, he would probably reply, "It 28 Brand and Peer Oynt,—A Contrast is my firm conviction that man is a child of God created in the image of the Eternal and responsible to God for the use made of life; that man is an individual soul whose glory is that it can scale all heights and tear down all opposition, and is ready at any time to die for a convic- tion; that to him life is only a passing moment, while eternity was before he came on earth and will be after he has passed away." The genuinely religious person will affirm that as nothing is lost in the realms of physical nature so nothing is ever lost in the spiritual world; that what is is forever; that what is may change and undergo, Proteus-like, myriads of transformations, but. destroyed • it cannot be. The Spiritual Ideal of Life. Because we do not see with the physical eye that which the religious devotee may believe, we are not nec- essarily within the sphere of exact truth when we refuse to befieve. During our last visit to Paris my , wife and I spent some time with one of the most spiritual-minded women it has ever been my pleasure to know. She is the Vicei-President of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in Paris. In conversation one day when she happened to be speak- ing of her grandchildren's religious development she re- marked, "I am not surprised that so many persons have no sympathy with the spiritual life. Before we acquire real reverence for it we must die and be born again on earth, and die and be re-born and again die and be born again; and ^e who have caught a glimpse of the higher and better life differ from others in that we have died 29 Henrik Ihsen and been re-born more often than they." This may be, possibly, just as good a suggestion as any hitherto offered in explanation of the advanced types of men and women with whom we meet and of those ennobling ideals which they express by their lives. Two Views of Life. There are, therefore, two views of life,—one ex- pressed by the term restraint and the other by the word culture. In the one case we find life's ideal to be self- denial, self-surrender, self-immolation, self-abnegation, self-renunciation, self-crucifixion,—an ideal indulged, foi: instance, during the monastic era of early Christianity. In the other case it is found to be self-indulgence, self- expression, self-realization, such as we have ever seen on the Great "White Ways and Boulevards of the world of pleasure. There are two views of life, of which the harlot represents one and the nun the other. These are extreme types, I admit, but they express the limits of the tWo pat- terns after which most of us fashion our lives,—the model of virtue, and also of vice. The Necessity for an Ideal. If progress is to be achieved we must have an ideal which represents that which is higher and better and nobler than we are ourselves. In the closing portion of Faust, Marguerite, who represents the Mater Gloriosa, calls to him she would save, "Come up highet!" In the soul of every living being a voice constantly cries, "Come up higher! Come up higher!" What the height to be '■30 Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast reached depends upon the ideal we indulge. Each must determine for himself whether he is to he an ideal wor- shipper or an idol worshipper. Scripture was right when it said, "I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse, therefore choose!" In the last analysis each of us must make his own selection; we must choose for ourselves. Indeed, that is what we have already done. By the time we reach the age of twelve years or so, the average person has already chosen the path which leads to life or death. Tendencies have already been developed which will play a most important part in the determination of our life. The seed of good or evil habits has already taken root, and the environment which we shall, in all probability, select will serve to foster those traits which direct us toward the path of least resistance. Thus, in the generality of cases, our whole future is determined by the choice of ideal or idol, of blessing or curse, which we make very early in life. I am far from denying that there are cases in which the adult seems to be able to overthrow the influence of these early years, hut the in- stances are rare where one, the twig of whose tree has already received an inclination in life's first decade, is competent to straighten it out completely in later years. The Besults of Early Influences. < Into the ears of childhood words are poured which ^d the little one "wax to receive and marble to retain." Speak to the young of money, for instance; tell it in the • 31 Henrik Ibsen earliest years of its life that money is the one thing need- ful; let your speech contain constant references to the supposed good which money, in and of itself, represents; and when the child becomes a man you will' usually dis- cover that he is a money-worshipper. Discuss in the first few years of a child's impressionable life the value of fame, power, position, place; let the little one hear that only the mighty are the successful; let it see its parents daily worshipping at the shrine of might; and the child when an adult will be, in all probability, an advocate of force as the ultimate expression of human destiny. During the formative period of human character let the child hear its elders discourse on the permanent value of human and humane public service; let it observe its parents devoting a fair proportion of their time, means and abilities to the solution of the difficult problems which confront Us, and it is most likely that, from amid that mental and moral environment, a really useful mem- her of society will ultimately emerge. If we place our young within the sphere of influence of godly men and women as its teachers, or bring it under the sway of the writings of the world's moral and spiritual uplifters, can there be any doubt but, in the course of time, the little soul will expand and develop into.a finer product than that of the child whose spiritual feelings and powers have been dwarfed by inattention, and whose life has been untouched by the suggestions of goodness and "godliness ? If the sum total of a mother's influence has been to develop a human fashion plate, what kind of a woman 32- Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast can we hope to find in later years than a gay and giddy thing, a menace to a society which depends for its security on justice and equity and knowledge and truth and pity and love? If the resultant of a father's power with his children has been to make them adorers of comfort and luxury, of idleness and pleasure, what shall later years produce for us except the spendthrift and gambler, the sybarite and lotus-eater, the pleasure-seeker and idler, who are a constant source of danger to a community whose very existence is threatened by these immoral un- desirables ? As a consequence of neglect in the earliest years of the child's life, weeds grow where valuable products should be found. As a result of an environment of crass mat'erialism and gross indulgence we find to this day those who seek fiattery and inspire contempt, but who never yearn for the word of truth. On the other hand, early impressions of the better order have given us types of individuals who willingly take the path which leads to trial and difficulty, joyously undertaken for the benefit of the multitudes. The revelations of soul power made by these glorious sons and daughters of man are still mighty enough to guide all of us who come under their sphere of influence. We may not be able to climb to the heights reached by them, but the fragrance of their lives still charms and enriches ours. Man Is a Dualism. The reason for these opposite tendencies in mankind, resulting as 5iey almost always do from the influence of 33 Henrik Ibsen heredity and environment, may be found in the fact that man is a dualism. He is a product of two elements. He is body and soul. In each of us is a mixture of earth and heaven. Scripture tells us that, in the beginning, God said, "Let us make man in our image!" Jewish theo- logians interpret this portion of the wondrous ode to crea- tion found in the first chapter of Genesis as an appeal of God to nature as though He meant, "Let us, nature and God, together make.man in the image of each of us; you, nature shall provide man with the physical elements of his body, and I, God, will breathe into him My spirit." This is only poetry, but it is poetry of the very highest order. Thus each of us is mind and matter. We are physical and spiritual. In the same tiny cloud of dust which is built by natural forces into the creature called man, there enters the spirit of Him who created the universe and who con- trols it by His supreme will. Thus the creature, man, be- comes a different entity from any other animal. Man becomes the child of God endowed with what we call a soul. We shall not quarrel about terms, but in man there is a divine quality which we call the soul, the spiritual power which is his highest gift, which permits him to sit at banquets yet causes him to rise dissatisfied or unsatis- fied; which opens its wings and soars to the supreme heights of. self-consecration to the ideal; which folds its wings in reverence before the marvelous manifestations of the Infinite and the Eternal; which defies death and conquers the grave; which seeks the light of the sun and brings it to earth for the benefit of mortals. Child of 31 Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast Deity and dust is man; product of earth and heaven; brother of animal and angel, is he! Hence it follows that in proportion as we listen to the call of the earth we take the lower view of life; and in proportion as we heed the appeal of God, revealed to us through His chosen prophets, we follow the nobler course. Ibsen's Treatment of This Dualism. I think it was Ibsen's recognition of this dualism which led him to write the two plays, or dramatic poems, to which we shall devote a brief consideration this morn- ing. In them we find an elaboration of the two opposing forces in man to which I have just referred. On the one hand we have the morose and severe drama of "Brand," and on the other hand we have the fantastic play of'' Peer Gynt." They are the contrasts resulting from the two views of life I have already endeavored to depict. In the one we find self-denial, a consecration to an austere ideal of law and duty; in the other we find self-realization, a devotion to an ideal of license and pleasure. Both of these creations of Ibsen's mind are extreme types, and both fail to find the fulfilment of their lives in the manner they anticipated. But they serve to indicate to us that the way of life is in neither direction, and that happiness and blessing must be found in other uses of our faculties than in those employed by Brand the puritan and preacher, and by Peer Gynt the man of pleasure. His personal Experience When Writing. In reading these works of Ibsen we must remember 35 Henrik Ihsen that at the time he wrote them he was passing through a very trying period of his life. Not only did he feel the painful pinch of poverty, but his sensitive nature had been outraged by the callousness of his countrymen to the fate of Denmark. The war of 1864 made a deep im-' pression on his faithful soul. He apparently realized that Bismarck'§ fateful determination to conduct the three wars which would result in German unity had produced a soul-paralysis in his countrymen. He was ashamed of his nation. This feeling was intensified when he passed through suffering Copenhagen on his way to Italy, and when he saw the people in Berlin celebrating the victory over the Danes at Dybbol, shouting around the flags which they had brought in triumph to the capital, and actually spitting into "the cannon that received no help and yet went on shooting until they burst." His Loathing of Cowardice. His feeling of contempt for Norway was deepened when he saw the splendid sacrifices which Italy had brought in order to produce a united Italy. The idea grew in his mind that, if a man or a nation is to accom- plish aught, the idea to be adopted is "All or Nothing." He resolved to teach this important truth to Norway in order that its children and children's children might never be guilty of the cowardice and faithlessness which his country had displayed in its desertion of Denmark in her day of need. He knew that such a presentation of the truth would hurt his chances with the Storthing, and, although dreadfully harassed by want and privation, he 36 Brand and Peer Oynt,—A Contrast refused to compromise with his soul. He wrote to Byorm son at this time, "Hang me if I can or will, on that ac- count, suppress a single line, no matter what these 'pocket-edition' souls think of it!" His Disgust with Pietism. Then, too, Ibsen was as dissatisfied with the church of his native land as with the state. Though he denies that he owes anything of the character of Brand to his oh- jective experiences, the truth is that Ibsen was under the sway of the Pastor of Skien, one Lammers, who was a fierce combatant for a spiritual faith in opposition to the formal and lifeless religion accepted and lived by the Nor- wegians at that time. This pastor, Gustave Adolphe Lam- mers, laid the emphasis of religion on the inner life; whereas the people stressed the' ceremonies, the creeds, the church services. The resulting conflict forced Lam- mers to leave Skien in disgust and to seek broader ave- nues for the opportunity of teaching religion. To the people pietism was all; without piety Lammers regarded religion as nothing. The moral power in Ibsen, which had enabled him to withstand the temptations to lie for the sake of gain, finds expression in "Brand" in which he flays his countrymen for their subservience to ritual and forms and ceremonies, and their unwillingness to live in the spirit of the founder of the religion to which they professed allegiance. Sources of Ibsen's Characterizations. There can also be little doubt but Ibsen w«". 37 Henrik Ihsen through Lammers, under the influence of the philosopher Kierkegaard, who taught that "in the crucifixion of the human element lies man's sole chance of ultimate recon- ciliation and union with God.'' The theology current in Norway was incarnated in the teachings of this Soren Kierkegaard. It was the essence of the Calvinism which had found its way into the reformed charch of Europe. It regarded the world as under a curse because of the anger of an offended God. It held that salvation in an- other life could only be obtained by the exercise of God's forgiveness through the saving grace of the crucified founder of Christianity. According to it only a small fraction of the human family was worthy of God's love. It offered no opportunity to man for the exercise of free- will. It came with blasts of damnation and the fires of HelL This philosophy possessed scarcely a saving feature: it assured the believer that he would be justified through the power of faith. In place of full and simple piety the people were satisfied with a lip-service which became exceedingly offensive to men of deep spiritual insight like Ibsen. In place of sacrifice the people offered church-dues. In place of mercy they brought creeds. In- stead of sympathy and pity they gave the tribute of be- Uef,—not the belief which stirs men to active piety, but the belief which begins and ends in mere words, in life- less repetition of the articles of faith and the confession. Instead of brotherliness they insisted on brutal damna- tion for all who differed in forms of faith. To warn and to chastise, to advise and to inspire, Ibsen wrote this 38 Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast dramatic poem, "Brand," which came forth hot from the forge of his imagination. It appeared glowing and burning and sizzling on the manuscript because of the ' contempt he had for his people's failings; and, perhaps, the saddest experience of his literary life was his dis- covery that the people "admired his book instead of understanding it," accepting it because its hero was a priest, instead of realizing that it "pointed a moral." Scene Laid in Norway. Whatever may have been the reception given to the play when it first appeared, time has enabled us to ap- predate its value and to assign to it a high place among those works of man which seek to emphasize human re- sponsibilities, and which endeavor to display for our con- sideration the struggle within the human breast of the opposing forces of animalism and the divine spirit in man. Although Ibsen is near Eome, in lovely Italy's loveliest groves, his mind turns to his own Norway, be- loved in spite of the errors of his countrymen, and in this play, which gained for him international fame and a prominent place as a dramatist, he lays the plot amid the rugged and ice-bound valleys of his native land. The neighborhood is not inviting. The glory of the sun appears but a few weeks in the year. Storm and snow, glacier and ghastliness, cliff and crag, foss and flood, offer little opportunity for the products of the soil to grow. The ^arth must be coaxed to yield even the least green thing. In such' an environment the poor folk 39 Henrik Ihsen are apt to be slavishly bound to the material world, their minds and souls as hare and unproductive as the earth * itself. The leaders of the people are as blind as the people they attempt to direct. The great need is a man, one whom no obstacle can stay, whom no earthly power can overcome, whom no official can intimidate. Brand the Puritan. If such people are ever to improve, are ever to he awakened from their sluggishness and indifference, from their indolent self-sufficiency, none hut a real man, whose motto is "All or Nothing," will he competent to serve. That man is Brand, a puritan of puritans, an uncompro- mising servant of his ideal, a teacher whose will must become the guiding influence of these men who shall yet he what God and nature have designed them to he. He is a veritable "father of souls," dissatisfied with things as they are, unsatisfied with things as the state would have them he, and only content with striving for things (IS they ought to he. He is the champion of conformity, u narrow, hut strong, personality who determines that things shall he bent to his will. The Character of Brand. He displays this uncompromising attitude when first We meet him. He is accompanying a peasant to the bed- side of his sick daughter. The path over the thin ice and the roar of hidden waters scare the peasant who would desist; hut Brand proceeds, though tomorrow would serve as well as» today. Even when the terrified father 40 Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast seeks to prevent him, the courageous pastor hurls him down and goes forward. Again he manifests the same resolute character when a dying man needs his services. In the fiord-side village famin'e stalks among the people, yet he sees no call for service among the starving people. He is only conscious of contempt for the officials, the Mayor and his clerks, whose narrow souls have no feeling for the poor who "do not live in their division." While the administrators of charity, devoid of all compassion, are handing minimum portions to the poor of their own parish, a woman rushes into their midst crying aloud for a pastor to absolve her husband, who, crazed with starvation, has killed their child and having attempted suicide "cannot live and dare not die." His Heroic Self-Sacrifice. Here, indeed, is work which he deems worthy. He must cross the fiord to reach the dying man and this he undertakes when all others refuse on account of the rag- ing storm. "The Dean himself would put the' service off," they say in reply to his demand "Unmoor the boat!" But who will guide it for him? Who else will take the risk of death in this hellish storm to serve an- other? Aye, who? The heroine, Agnes, is present. She hopes that Einar, who loves her, may respond to the call; but he is made of no such heroic stuff. His refusal slays her respect; while she, drawn toward the heroic element in-Brand's nature! leaps into the boat amid the violent 41 Benrik Ibsen protestations of all, and together pastor and girl reach the yonder shore in safety. Invited to Be Pastor. On his return the village folk urge him to be their priest. He has set himself a larger, nobler task, this crusading knight-errant of complete self-surrender and self-renunciation. His is to be the glory of "burying the God" worshipped by the fatuous people of the land who, in his eyes, has descended to the level of a broken idol. Agnes it is who wins him from the greater task, and for her sake he consents to remain in the village. This heroine, when the play opened, was only a but- terfly maiden; she is now a resolute woman. A real man was revealed to her in the journey over the roaring waters of the fiord. Einar her friend has become com- monplace, a human ape simulating the character of a child of the Deity. Brand the strong-willed, courageous, heroic soul, has opened her eyes and conquered her heart. A boundless sea rolls between her and her former friend, and in spite of the warning and pleading that she is mak- ing her choice between stillness and strife, calm and fray, death and life, night and day, she selects Brand for her husband. Her answer is, "On through Death. On into Night. Dawn beyond glows rosy-bright." ' All or Nothing. Three years pass. A babe has come to bless their wedded life, but this morsel of bliss has, in no way, modi- 42 Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast fied the priest's unyielding demand, "All or nothing." Every incident related only strengthens this impression. His mother lies dying, but he is deaf to her appeal for # the administration of the last rites of her religion. She has not inspired her son with filial respect. On the night, just before his father died. Brand saw her hunting for. the father's moneys and heard her grunt her dissatisfac- tion that there were not more. She had wedded for money and had sold her soul for money, and conscious of her own failing she had given her son to the church for the sole purpose of feeling certain of a priest's min- istrations at the time of her death. Now that she is dying the son refuses to go to her. She must give up all her ill-gotten gain, all for which she has sold her soul. Mes- sengers come to plead with him and offer, in her name, the bargain she will make. For she will give for con- secrated purposes a half, yea nine-tenths, of all she has. The son is immovable. His answer is "All or nothing." Brand's Unyielding Attitude. His own child sickens in the sunless valley, and he is momentarily tempted to remove his home; but having, at the solicitation of Agnes, decided to remain in the village, he practically forces her to choose the way. Again the answer is "All or nothing." He must stay lest some less .consecrated man come to take his place, even though to remain may mean "the sacrifice of. their Isaac." The child dies and Brand in his merciless piet- ism has no sympathy for the mother-love, the description of which makes our hearts to quiver with "pity. On 43 Henrik Ibsen Christinas eve Agnes places a candle in the window so that its gleam may fall on the babe's little gfave; Brand compels her to draw the curtain. There must be no in- dulgence in memories of the past which will seduce her from her resolution, "All or nothing." She must not even retain a cherished article which may remind her of the joys of the former Christmas. When the poor gypsy comes upon them and pleads for clothing for her child, Agnes ungrudgingly gives everything except one little relic,—the babe's cap lying in her bosom. Even this Brand forces the heart-broken mother to surrender. Plis cruel pietism knows no compromise,—"All or nothing." Agnes yields, but in that act plants the seed of death which soon overtakes her. The Larger Church. With the money he had inherited from his mother he builds a new church, larger, more beautiful, symbolic of the law he had made his guiding principle. The church attracts the multitudes who look on its builder as some saint; but they fail to understand his meaning. They are as steadfast to their commonplace creeds as he is to his fanatical pietism. With them the form and the rite are still of utmost importance; their unimaginative souls can no more dream of the graces and virtues of re- ligion than can his resolute mind conceive of true piety and tender pity. He resolves to test the sincerity of the congregation as he had tried his wife. They, too, must be prepared to offer "All or nothing." 44 Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast Failure. Totally misunderstanding the limitations of human nature, completely forgetful of the dualism of which man is composed, thoroughly out of touch with the stern realities of life. Brand is determined to add to his failure by compelling the people to accept his pietistic views. They shall follow him to a higher church than one of brick and stone. They shall worship with him in the mountains where the physical limitations of a church do not exist. He closes the church-door, locks it, draws the key and throws it into the river. The people regarding him as a miracle-working saint follow him, believing that he can provide for their needs; but when he offers them doctrine for food and his ideal of self-crucifixion for their daily bread, they stone him and desert him. Death. Alone, he sees as in a vision all he has sacrificed for his impossible ideal of self-realization by complete self- renunciation. He has lost all, and found nothing. Wife, child, people, church, all are gone; yet he remains firm. Better for him, he feels, to climb higher and alone than return to his church and people. But his pitiless and unfeeling creed are not the true interpretation of God's ways toward weak and erring men, and though he strive alone to tread what he holds is the higher way, he must learn that he is no less in error than were his congrega- tion. Bleeding and fainting he pushes on, until Gerd, the girl whom so many considered mad, yet who, in her mad- ness, has nobler vision than Brand and his people, fires 45 Henrik Ibsen the shot which looses the avalanche which pityingly stills his agonized heart. As the shadow of death is upon him Brand questions whether his conception of God and the universe is valid. Above the crashing thunder of the avalanche comes the reply, "He is the God of Love." No Solution Offered. Ibsen is criticized for failing to show the way out of the problem; hut in justice to the dramatist it must be conceded that he did not undertake to do more than lay his finger on the disease which was destroying the moral sense of the nation satisfied with formal official- ism, and the church contented with pietism and ritual- ism. He offers no solution. He hoped, perhaps, to stir a lethargic people by a denrmciation of their sins. To chide, to criticize, to censure, was his mission as he saw it. To deprecate, to diagnoze, to disturb, wa^ his aim. He would have failed in his particular mission, had he sought to accomplish more. He felt that iconoclasm must precede reconstruction, and he was content to fulfil his self-appointed task. The Contrast. • 4 If in "Brand" we have the type of the puritanical pietist who would make all men conform to his loveless, pitiless, merciless faith, who would find self-realization through self-crucifixion, we find the contrast drawn by Ihsen in his drama "Peer Gynt," which appeared two years later. If in "Brand" we find the hero completely consecrated to his decision and above all compromise, in 46 Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast "Peer Gynt" we find the contrast, a person unwilling to come to any fixed decision. If in "Brand" we have a delineation of self-will completely sacrificed* to its con- ception of the divine will, in "Peer Gynt" we have a description of the human will which finds its ultimate in following its own bent without regard to God or man. In both cases the dramatist portrays his native land: in the first case set and resolved in its decision to pursue its standards t)f formal piety; in the second case, unwill- ing to commit itself to any fixed course. Peer Gynt's Character. Peer Gynt is the son of a widowed mother, a mem- her of a once well-to-do Norwegian family. His chief characteristic is a brilliant but lying imagination. He inscribes his ideal over the door of his mountain-hut; he will b/fe '' Emperor of Himself.'' Less harmful than Brand he vnir not invite others to share his ideal. He will realize himself for his own sake only. To him the finest type of man is the masterful hunter, the doer of brave deeds, the irresistible lover, the hero of a thousand fights. Butlwhile he indulges his dreams of greatness, for he conceives of himself though dirty and bepatched as the embodiment of all the heroic virtues, the property of his mother Aase, which he should have conserved, falls into ruin. The neighbors despise and snub him because of -v. his habits; but he rarely resents their attitude, for he can always lie on his hack, gaze upon the clouds and in fancy follow their course over land and sea,—a symbol of his owip future adventures. He is strong in self- delusion and in self-indulgence only. 47 Henrik Ibsen Despised of All but One. For six weeks he has absented himself from his home and he returns to learn that Ingrid, the daughter of a rich villager, who his mother hopes may be his wife, is to wed Mads Moen on the morrow. At the wedding the maidens refuse to dance with him, but among the young women is one Holveig, a comparative stranger in the village, "to gaze on whom makes it Sunday," as Peer says, accepts his offer, but turns from him when she learns his name. And yet one look upon him has sealed Solveig's fate. She sees in Peer the man "God meant him to be," rather than the adventurous braggart he really is. Deserted of all, no one will speak to him except the bridegroom who implores Peer's help to rescue the bride from the storehouse in which she has locked herself to avoid her "poor, craven husband." Peer rescues the bride, but carries her away for himself into the forest, where later on he leaves her, lured by the pure image / of the beautiful Solveig. Contemptuously he cries, "Devil take all reeollections! Devil take the tribe of women,— All but one!" Peer is departing just as his mother Aase, with Solveig and her parents reach him, bent on securing the bride for her groom. His renunciation of Ingrid has left in his soul no desire for improvement, not a single regret. On the contrary; he sinks lower and lower in 48 Brand and Peer 6ynt,—A Contrast coarse and sensual pleasures in the saeter mountains. Yet he dreams of grandeur even while his soul grovels in grossness. "Thou art come of great things," he tells himself, "and great things shall come of thee." But the great things never come. Among the Trolds. Peer is now in.the Trold-King's domain, and we read with a sense of sickening disgust of the manner in which he submits to his own self-delusion and self-abasement. In the world of sin every so-called pleasure assumes de- lightful shape and is delicious in its awful attractive- ness; but only because we are self-deluded like Peer. The Trold-King's daughter is foul and deformed, but the self-sufficient youth deludes himself into seeing in her a princess, and in the pig on, which she rides a fiery charger,—so exquisite can. sin make vice appear. He decides to live among the Trold^!, but inconstant and weak of purpose he cannot abide his decision for long. To be wholly^ a Trold he must consent to have his eyes slit like theirs so that he may see things as they do: hut he cannot follow any plan to its logical conclusion. He refuses to submit to the operation; he prefers to remain self-(leceived, to go whither folly calls though his eyes be wide open. Loses His Better Self. , Peer escapes from the Trolds, but he cannot any more escape^he consequences of having been among them than can any of us escape the results which must neces- 49 Henrik Ibsen sarily ensue from our deeds. That visit makes it clear to him that he cannot live with Solveig, the symbol of his better self, even when he has made preparations to receive her. Uplift of soul, sorrow for misdeed, he knows none. One appeal of conscience touches him, but he re- fuses to heed it. He rejects the appeal of his better self and thus sells himself to the power of evil. His Mother Dies. In his straits he returns to his mother, but on reach- ing her bedside he finds her dying. Breath enough re- mains in her to chide him for the loss of all her property which has been seized in payment of the fine imposed for his escapade with Ingrid, and to upbraid him with t a reference to Solveig. Nothing changes him; he persists in his self-delusion. Even before he closes his mother's eyes in death, he pretends to driye her, in his effort to console her, to the very gates of heaven, using the bed- post as a horse to the chariot in which he proceeds to carry heaven by his will.' Then when she dies he goes - forth, but not-until he has reverently closed her eyes .and gratfifully:-said, "For all thy days I thank thee, For all the beatings and lullabys!" Peer a Man of Wealth. Three decades now pass and next we find Peer a man of great wealth, but he is still the self-deluded, self- willed, self-indulgent. Peer. Ibsen's satire of his conn- trymen, of their politics and their religion, is here very 50 Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast keen. For he represents'Peer Gynt as being devoted to religion, yet making his money hy selling idols and slaves, and also, as a compensation. Bibles and missionary sup- plies. % As man of affairs and wealth he takes some friends on a journey in his yacht. They desert him and leave him in a wilderness in Africa. At first he blasphemes the God who, he says, has him in His special charge; but when an explosion wrecks the yacht and all aboard are drowned, he comforts himself with the assurance that he is the object of a special providence. "Ah, God is a Father to me after all," he exclaims, "but economical He surely is not." Experiences with Anitra. A series of disconnected adventures follows, indica- tive of the great things he dreamed he might do, but never did. One day he finds a white horse in the desert. He steals it and, riding a distance, he reaches an Arab community which hails him as prophet. He is wor- ^shipped for himself instead of being desired, as he had been in his days of wealth, for his money. Among these Arabs his soul descends to the lowest depths of degra- dation, and Anitra, the dancing-maid, daughter of the chieftain, to whom he gives himself up with the utmost abandon, plucks him who would have fooled her. Emperor of Himself. Once.moje alone and deserted he wanders until he reaches Cairo where, at the Sphinx, he meets a German 51 Henrik Ibsen who seeks to know the significance of the uncanny figure. Peer solves the difficulty by assuring him that "the Sphinx is itself." The German is much delighted with this answer, and the two discuss philosophy, until Peer receives from his companion *an invitation to visit a club in Cairo whose members are anxious to receive such enlightenment as he can give. The club turns out to be a lunatic asylum whose inmates have imprisoned their keepers. Here the madmen crown Peer as Emperor of Himself. Such is the fate of him who seeks to realize his Self by the methods selected by Peer. He had indeed chosen his life; but to what had his choice now led ? In the midst of all this sordidness and selfishness we are carried back to Norway where we hear Solveig sing- ing her inimitable song. Thither Peer, now an old man, returns like another Rip Van Winkle. His life has left its sad impress on body and soul, but he fails to see I . . -I < through aU its unlovehness; self-deluded to the last he does not recognize himself as he really is. On his way home he is shipwrecked, but he is unwilling to die. He sees the Button-moulder, Death, and he seeks to avoid him as long as he can. He even forces from the spar, to which he is olinging, another shipwrecked man, lest the grain of wood be not large enough to fioat both of them. Setnms to Norway. At last he reaches his home in which the faithful Solveig has loyally and longingly awaited his coming. She shows him by her love what the true Peer Gynt 52 Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast might have been, and at last he sees what he has been and now is. But it is now too late. Thoughts, watch- words, songs, which might have been, taunt him, and the "tears which were never shed," and the "deeds which were never done, " testify against him. Fool that he has been, all along he thought he had been himself, and now he -sees that he has been no one. He cannot comfort himself that he has been a son of the Deity; nor can he find consolation in the thought that he has been a child of the devil; for, as Ibsen puts it, "it needs.both force and earnestness to sin," and Peer has lacked both in his drifting along the road of animal self-indulgence. Tbe End. Peer awakens to the realization that he is no one. At this moment of his self-awakenment he reaches Solveig's iiut, where he expects to find "the,list of his . sins." But blind, old, loving Solveig knows nothing of them. She hears his footsteps and cries out, "It is.he! It is he! Now Heaven be blessed!" She understands A nothing of his self-reproach. All she can say to him is, "Thou hast made all my life as a beautiful song." Peer fails to understand. He asks her to tell him then where the real Peer Gynt has been all these years, and she answers, "In my faith, in my hope, in my love." There he dies, with his face buried in her lap; and there he leaims that the empire of which he would have been the overlord was not far removed from the love which she might have inspired in him. # 53 Henrik Ibsen Our Mode of Appreciation. It is unnecessary to attempt to interpret what seems to us the beautiful symbolism of this poem, or to indi- eate the pertinence of its lines to the conditions which prevailed in Ibsen's land in his day. The ultimate lesson is clear. Self-realization through selfish indulgence leads to death just as does self-realization through self-cruci- fixion. In many places the author dipped his pen in gall as he wrote, hoping to stir his countrymen from their lethargy, their self-righteousness and their self-suf- ficiency. In his own day Ibsen received the high recog-- nition to which his genius entitled him for writing these dramatic poems. In our day we can best show our ap- preciation by endeavoring to catch his deepest sugges- tions and by applying them to the needs of our own lives. Ibsen's Purpose. f In his plays "Brand" and "Peer Gynt" the gifted author has endeavored to disclose for our consideration those opposing types of character with which we have been made familiar since the earliest times and of those types of religion and politics which have resulted there- from. In ".Brand" we have restraint and repression carried to their ultimate consequences. In "Peer Gynt" we have the consequences of self-indulgence and the self- delusion which it promotes. Let us consider two other illustrations of these confieptions which may help us to see how they embody thg ultimates of these two views of life. 54 Brand and Peer Gynt,—A Contrast Self-Cruciflxion. The Church of the Capucines, the Santa Maria della Concezione, in Rome, stands as an embodiment of the ideal of self-crucifixion. Once I visited it and saw the cemetery beneath the church in which are collected the bones of the many priests who have died in self- denying service of their master. The walls are covered with skulls and bones. The chandeliers are made of the skulls of former priests, and in that chamber of death I saw holy men raking the soil in which they were finally to be buried. It is as though a voice spoke through these monks and relies saying, "Man, what is life? Pre- pare thy grave! This world is a fieeting show; the grave is the one place fit to be heeded and tended!" Self-indulgence. Yonder in the far-off Vale of Daphne the ancients indulged in the worship of the heathen deity. The beau- tiful grounds about the shrine were exquisite in their glorious cultivation. But therein was a rottenness of soul displayed which, to this day, shocks the sensibili- ties of those who read of it. The ^od was worshipped; but how ? By the beauty of holiness ? Alas, no! but by those indulgences which spelled the desecration of all that we hold most sacred on this side of heaven. It meant the ruin of woman's virtues. It meant the subjection of the soul to the sins of the body. Yet it was said in those far-off days |hat "those who'knew not the joys of the Vale of Daphne never knew pleasure." 55 Henrik Ihsen t In our own day we see the efforts made by those who would seek to choose life. They are not unlike the types portrayed by these illustrations. We have the self- denying who seek by self-restraint to find blessing. We find the boulevardiers,—^not only the Parisian but those nearer home,—^who indulge the vices condemned by the progressing ideals of a progressive age. Each of us must choose for himself the way he would go,—^the way of culture or the way of restraint, the way of self-indulg- ence or the way of self-denial, the way of blessing or the way of curse. We Must Choose. Shall we. Brand-like, insist on conformity to our idea, or shall we permit liberty of thought and action? Shall we. Peer Gynt-like, indulge ourselves to the full, seeking our own pleasures yet breaking hearts and divine pre- cepts? Which way shall we go? Shall we make of re- ligion that to which Calvinism would reduce the world? Shall we believe that the world is under a curse, and make life consonant with such a view, robbing it of all joy in the effort to gain the good-will of an offended God ? Shall we make of religion that to which monasti- cism would reduce it? Ibsen does not answer such ques- tions. He did not write with the view of so doing. He sets before us the ultimates. We must choose. Each of us must select his own course with the knowledge that each of us must bear the consequences of his own acts.' We must not deduce general principles from isolated cases, but if we seek guidance we shall find that the prophets and teachers of men have not, without good rea- .56 Brand and Peer Oynt,—A Contrast son, gained their ascendancy as guides and counsel- lors. Out of the mouth of wisdom came, then, the con- ception of the Jewish masters that "the way of life is, on the one hand, a flaming flre and, on the other, a mountain of ice. Avoid the fire and avoid the ice," said the Rabbis, "and walk between." The way of life is that which will bring man blessing and not curse, and that way will ever be found by the man who lives in rever- ence for God and who strives to keep His commands- The Middle Path. Some attach themselves to altruism; some find indi- vidualism the noblest solution to life. For the average man the path between will be found safest and best. That is the road which will most surely lead to that con- dition in which every man may sit under his own vine and his own fig-tree, where none shall make him afraid. Religion is no sour, miserable, wet-blanket experience. Its aim is to bring life and blessing, not death and curse. It is to be the life under the highest law, wherein law is deepened and spiritualized by the power of love. Wiser than men of the type of Brand, more glorious far than the Peer Gynts, are the teachers who have echoed the words of Scripture, "I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life." No man can live another's life, nor die another's death. Each must live and die for himself; but thrice blessed is he who, while living for himself, so lives that others are blessed by big influence and example; who so lives that, after his death, his good deeds continue to live. 57 Sunday Lectures Before Bodef Sbalom Oongregatiou. SERIES Vil.' i. Throush Lore to Light 2* The Road to Happioest. 1. The Midnight Sun. 4. If I Were You. 5. Heroes. 4. The Holjr Trinity. T. Try Again.. 2. A.Jewish View of the Hee* siah. 3 The Rerolt of Reason. 16. m.—Buddha. 18. 17. rV.—Zoroaster. 19. 10. Peace, Peace, yet there Is 20. no Peace. 11. The Choir Inyisible. 21. 12. It Pays. 22. 13. Public Opinion. . 23. 14. Tbe Founders of the Faiths. 24. I.—Moses. 15. n.—Confucius. 25. K Co-operatire Creed for Jew 8. and Christian. 9. 2. Let us Reason Together. 10. 3. Trust and Try. 4. Through Telescope and Ml- croscope. 11. 5. Home, Sweet Home. 12. 4. Brother Against Brother. IS. 7. Milton's Message to Our 14. Age. 1. The Way of the Reformer. 7. 2. Rather Doubt than Hypoc- risy. J, 8. Tha Modem Maccabee. 4. A Twentieth Century Ideal. « 9. A Little Child Shall Lead in Them. iK; 4. Sail On I (Sectarianism 12. and the Public Schools.! -13. 1. Politics and Morais. 8. 2. Why Convert the Jew. 9. The Right Kind of Religion. 10. Rev. John H. Dietrich 8. Ought a Jew Speak in a 11. Christian Pulpit 7 12. 4. Evolution or Revolution. 13. 5. Chantecler—^I. The Story. 14. 4. Chantecler—II. An Inter- 15. pretaUon. 7. The Successful Wife. 16. SERIES VIII. Keep Up Your Courage. 15. Innocent or Guilty 7, 16. Old Arrows from New 17. Quivers. 18. I.—Mr. Crowe's Career. 19. n.—Electra. 20. III.—The Broken Eanee. 21. IV.—The Saint. v.—The Tether. " 22. SERIES IX. The Land of the Hearfl 14. Desire. 15. Except the Lord Build the House. Prisoners of Self. An Ounce of Prevention. tj What We Owe to Woman. What Woman Owes to Us. jg Conventional Lies. 16. SERIES X. To Do and to Dare. . 17. God in tbe Constitution. 18. God's Word and Man's 19. World. Honey. 20. Chasing Rainbows. 21. Our Greatest Modem Need. The Message of Lincoln. 22. Civic Pride and Civic Peace. ' 23. Mbsions and Uissionaries. V.—Jesus. VI.—Mohammed. YII.—Tbe Holy Catholie Church. Unfortunate Success. Blessed are the FaithfUL Cursed are the Slanderers. The President and His Poll- cies. The Ascent of Man. Abraham' Lincoln's Religion. Charles Darwin—A Tribute. VI.—The Simple Life. VII.—The Iron Heel. Vin.—Lay Down Your Arms. IX.—Father and Son. X.—A Book of Noble Women. Let Well Enough Alone. Paying the Price. Abraham Lippman—A Trib- ute. The New Reiigiun. ' I.—The Prophetic Reforms- tion. n.—The Pauline Reforms- tion. nr.-The Christian Reforms- tion. The Rose and the Thom. The Jew's Enemies. There's a Divinity that Shapes Our Ends. America and Russia. They Shall Leara War No More. Say unto Israel, Go For- ward! Friends of the Friendless. 1'. As a Man Thinks. IL 2. Do It for Pittsburgh. 8. Hating Man for God's Sake. x2. 4. Children of Tomorrow. ,, 5. Whom God Joins None Can Put Asunder. 6. Not Jacob But Israel. 7. What is the Use of Wor- ship 7 8. Hearts Courageous. 9.'Toward the Rising Sun. 10. Bu3ine9s Honor and Honor* able Business . 1. The Appeal for Social Jus- 19. tice. 4* 2. Wanted—^A Man. 8. The Spoilt Child. 4. The Climbers . 12. 18. 5. Labor's Hopes and Ideals. 6. Capitol's Duties and Re- sponsibllities. 7. For the Love of Woman. 8. If Jesus Came Again. 14 9. The Taming of the Shrew. SERIES XI. False Attacks Upon Rellg- ion. Everywoman. The Great God—Success. The Alphabet of Life. By Rabbi Gerson B. Levy, Ph. D. SERIES XII. 14. God's Promise to Abraham. 15, By Rev. Dr. A. Gutt- 16. macher. 17. 15. Religion and Social - Theories. I.—The Isle of Dreams. ig II.—The Failure of Com- .,, munism. Hear, 0 Israel. By Rabbi Solomon Foster. Religion and Social Theories. 26. m.—The Purpose-of Social- jx. ism. ,, rV.-The Case Against 80- ciaiism. 23. A Jewish Poem of Brown- ing. By Rabbi Louis Wolsey. Our Missionary Problem. By Kabbi George Zepin. Charles Dickens—An Ap- preciation. The Little Things of Ufa. The Help That Counts. Home Memories. V.—The Meaning of An- archism. VI.—^Americanism. VII.—The'' Single Tax. Vin.—The Trend of the Future. Can Han Rob Godf A Living Wage. The Easiest Way. Bringing Up the Child. My Philosophy of Life. Simday Lectures Before Bodef Sbaloip Oougregatkm. L For What Do Wo Standt 11. 5. Tho Consequaacoo of BoUof. 12. 2. The Modern MlUionalre. IS. 4. The Wandering Jew. 14. 6. A. Cather'a Power. IS. 4. A Mother's Influence. 16. T. The Child's Reaim. 17. 8. The Chosen of the Earth. 18. 8. Atheism and Anarchism. 18. 18. A Jewish View of Jesus. - SERIES i. The Doom of Dogma. The Dawn of Truth. Friendships. Zionism. Gone, but Hot Forgotten. Pleasures and Pastimes. Marriage. Intermarriage. What is the Good of.JUlIf- ion» ■ - 88. IrOTs and Dii^. 21. The Miracle oT the Acsg. 22. A Jewish View of Easter. 28. The Spirit Of Modem ~ 24. The Ideal ttoma 25. The Prophets of Maiehing .On. 1. Emiie Zoia;—A Tribute. 14. 2. The Highest Gifts. 11. t. Art and the Synscogue. 12. 4. Prejudice. 13. 5. Youth and Its Visions.. 14. 6. Age and Its Realities. l.V 7. Is Life Worth Living 7 16. 8. Is Marriage a Failure 7 iV. 8. The True and Onig Son .ir 13. God. if. SERIES II. The Conquering Hero. The Truth in Judaism. The One Only God. The Holy Bible. The • Vast Forever. Our Neighbor's Faith. The Messiah. The Future of Religion. The Liberators. Man and Nature. 86. What Woman May Do. 21. The 8eho